Split Operation
Two teams. One target. One unknown.
Team One: Evan, Signal, Frost.
Objective: Halo. Location: Jerusalem, Eastern Quarter.
Team Two: Juno, Maya, Lyra.
Objective: Trace "Ashglass." Lead from Cipher's last drop in Tangier.
Before splitting
(Juno: "We can't chase both. Halo's already moving."
Signal: "And Ashglass might be the only way to stop her."
Evan: "Then we split. I'll take Signal and Frost to Jerusalem."
Juno: "Maya, Lyra — you're with me. We follow Cipher's lead to Tangier."
Maya: "What even is Ashglass?"
Frost: "Cain's failsafe. Not a weapon. A command locked in relic form. It can end the Children — or control them."
Signal: "If Halo finds it first, we lose everything."
Juno: "Then don't let her.")
Jerusalem, Eastern Quarter
The old streets wound like veins. Packed. Hot. Loud.
Evan hated it. No clean sightlines. Too many variables.
Frost moved like he'd lived here before. His expression never changed, even when a sniper's dot slid across his throat — then vanished.
"Safehouse two blocks ahead," he said.
Signal stopped him. "Tell me about Halo."
Frost's voice didn't falter.
"She was Pale Court's rupture design. Created to destabilize networks from within. No empathy, no loyalty. Her thoughts run on feedback loops. Once she locks onto a target... she doesn't stop."
Evan: "Can she be reasoned with?"
Frost: "Only if she thinks you're already dead."
Inside the safehouse, maps were spread. Halo's pattern was erratic — no allegiance. Two of Asher's own lieutenants were dead by her hand.
Signal pointed at the last confirmed sighting.
A school. Bombed. Children gone.
No message. No claim.
Just a symbol, scratched on a single desk:
Δ//
Frost stared at it.
"That's her signature. Delta-break. Means she's hunting the source."
Signal murmured, "She's going after the original code."
Evan: "Then we find it first."
Istanbul – Underground Library
Juno hated the quiet in this place. The silence was too intentional.
They were searching for "Ashglass," a phrase buried in Cipher's notes and hinted in Kroll's encryption. It wasn't a person. It was older.
Maya read the file again.
"Ashglass was Cain's backup key. Not digital. Physical. A relic encoded with the original instruction set. Meant to control or destroy the Children of Vellum if needed."
Lyra touched a slab of stone carved with the same Vellum symbol.
She said, "Why would Cain hide it here?"
Juno didn't answer. She stared at the center of the room.
A vault.
Locked with biometric seal.
Not voice. Not retina.
It needed Signal.
Back in Jerusalem, Signal stopped walking.
She leaned on a crumbling wall. Eyes wide.
"Something's wrong," she said.
Frost turned.
Then the shadows moved.
Halo stepped from the alley.
Not running. Not hiding.
Tall. Pale. Hair short. No expression. A burn across her neck.
She looked like Signal — if Signal had never left Pale Court.
Halo stared at Frost.
"You betrayed us."
Frost stepped forward. "You don't have to do this."
She tilted her head.
"You're the reason it's broken."
Then she moved.
Fast. Inhuman.
She struck Frost through a concrete pillar.
Evan fired — missed.
Signal launched at her — blade drawn.
Halo caught it.
Whispered: "Your hands shake."
Signal whispered back: "Yours don't."
They clashed.
Not just fists — code.
Every move carried a memory burst. Signal staggered as images hit her — Vellum's halls, Cain's voice, her own screams.
Evan tried to flank.
Halo back-kicked him into a wall.
Frost coughed blood, crawled to cover.
Signal grabbed Halo by the throat.
"You don't have to follow it."
Halo smiled.
"I am it."
Then she stabbed herself.
A signal pulse burst out — a coded scream.
Every Vellum Child within 500 miles would feel it.
Halo vanished into smoke.
Frost groaned. "She's calling them."
Signal helped him up. "Then we go to the source."
Evan looked at his comms. New message from Juno.
"We found the vault. Bring Signal.